Zaza Dugladze, founder of the Dugladze Wine Company, says that the introduction of a tax on Georgian wine will be a heavy burden for Georgian wine exporters to Russia and will cause a reduction in export volumes.
“I don’t have official information on the issue. If it happens, Georgian business will face difficulties. The import duty will further complicate wine exports, will increase the costs of Georgian businessmen and reduce export volumes," Zaza Dugladze says.
Dugladze does not expect the decision to be made, this is not only an economic issue - trade between Georgia and Russia is politicized.
"Despite the sanctions, Russia remains a strategic market for the whole world, be it South America or Europe. I hope that the import duty on Georgian wine will not be imposed, we cooperate with commercial banks to carry out our activities but the additional tax will drastically increase our costs," Zaza Dugladze notes.
The current import duty on wine to Russia is 12.5%. The Russian government wants to boost the local production by increasing the tax.
Recently , Georgia has become the largest wine exporter to Russia. According to the Federal Customs Service of Russia, from January to May, Georgia overtook Italy and tops the list of wine exporters to Russia. In particular, 24.15 million liters of natural wine was imported from Georgia to Russia, 23.36 million liters from Italy. Annual wine imports to Russia from Georgia increased by 63%, from Italy by 31%.
